Around the BCHL – Twitter headache for Coquitlam Express

Welcome to the September 14, 2018 edition of Around the BCHL, a (near) daily look at what’s going on around the league and the junior A world.

We start this morning with the Coquitlam Express and Twitter headaches.

If you bounce around several BCHL team accounts like I do, you’ll have noticed that @BCHLExpress has been down for the count recently.

Rather than me trying to explain why, here’s the Express releasing a statement this week.

“The Coquitlam Express official Twitter account (@BCHLExpress) has been temporarily shut down by Twitter. In the process of getting the account verified, Twitter’s services incorrectly determined that the account, at its time of creation in 2010, was done so by a person under the age of 13. We were unable to explain to Twitter that the account is not a personal, but rather a business account that has been administered by many different Express volunteers and employees over the years. Twitter’s support has told us the account will be reinstated eventually, but we have been kept in the dark about when this may be.”

The explanation does leave me wondering, was it created by someone under the age of 13? Might be that in 2010 that was the only person with the expertise to do it.

In the meantime, the team has created a somewhat awkward temporary account at @CqtlmExpress.

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The Wenatchee Wild added a player yesterday, acquiring the rights to 20 year old forward Blake Bargar from the Alberta Junior Hockey League’s Brooks Bandits in exchange for future consideration.

Barger has spent the last four seasons as a full-time player in the Western Hockey League.

In 255 regular season and playoff games with the Moose Jaw Warriors, Victoria Royals and Seattle Thunderbirds, the California native has 19 goals, 42 points and 176 penalty minutes.

He can throw ‘em.

It’s always assumed that a forward coming from a higher level to a lower level will light it up, but there’s no guarantee that players coming down from the WHL become impact guys. That truth was reinforced for me last season when Jason Tatarnic imported a bunch of major juniors for Chilliwack’s RBC Cup run.

Bryan Allbee, Kyle Yewchuk and Adam Berg were solid contributors. Ryan Bowen was okay. Jordan Roy was good for seven games before deciding junior A hockey wasn’t his thing. Allbee was the closest thing to a home run while the rest fell in the double (Berg/Yewchuk), single (Bowen) or strikeout (Roy) category.

Wenatchee will be hoping that Blake Bargar is more BB Gun than BB Gone.

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Sticking with the Wild. This is a team that is very active and creative with its social media content, which is why they find their way into this column a lot.

When I’m looking for something to write about, @WenatcheeWild1 is usually a good place to start.

Case in point, the post the team released on Tuesday for National Video Game Day, which is a thing. Teenagers, they know all about the games, am I right? I like Jacob Modry’s tip to throw Bomb Bird at the base of the structure in Angry Birds.

You totally know what I’m talking about right?

Josh Arnold provides some solid insight for playing NHL 18, but sadly no one is throwing out any tips for the all-time best video hockey game.

Any time these kids want to find an operating picture-tube TV, a working RF cord and a functional Nintendo console, I will mop the floor with them in Blades of Steel!

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The Nanaimo Clippers held their annual rookie dinner this week and posted photographed proof on the team’s Twitter account.

All I can say about this is at least one of those outfits is very disturbing.